Spoiler Alert: This blog is not about a Jeff Bridges film. 

A few years ago Angela Lee Duckworth did a TED Talk subtitled “The power of passion and perseverance”, in which she brings up this idea of ‘grit’.  “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

No one knows what cultivates grit in a person, but “what I do know is that talent doesn’t make you gritty. Our data show very clearly that there are many talented individuals who simply do not follow through on their commitments. In fact, in our data, grit is usually unrelated or even inversely related to measures of talent.” …which is great because when they first asked me to be the Base Leader and run this business for Adventures in Missions, they must have been completely trusting the Holy Spirit.  Sure I went to business school, but that was seven years ago.  I helped start a guesthouse in Patagonia, but that wasn’t a traditional business and I was only a small facet.  My resume was definitely lacking, but they still chose me and I am forever grateful.  

My dream to start a guesthouse started when I was on The World Race in 2011.  Since then, I had been following the Lord from job to job and country to country, with the end goal of starting my own Christian guesthouse someday, somewhere.  The opportunity to come to Cambodia to run a guesthouse seemed to be a culmination of the past six years’ work.  It all felt like a dream, but when we arrived in January the dream became reality and reality hit hard.  Two days after arriving, completely jet lagged, I was thrown into training to take over this business and after a three week crash course the previous managers were gone and I was left to lead our team, host short term missionaries, and manage a business in a foreign country where I didn’t know the language or even where the grocery store was.  We scrambled to find apartments, transportation, phone cards, etc. and slowly settled in.  Our goal was to all shoulder the load of the guesthouse, while making space to learn the language. (If you ask any missiologist, they all say that learning the language in your first year of missions is crucial.  In fact they say to ONLY focus on language learning and settling in, since your life on the mission field is a marathon and not a sprint and so much of your mental capacity is already going towards trying to figure out how this strange new culture you’ve been placed in works.)  However, we quickly realized that if all of us were to share the load of the guesthouse, none of us would be able to really focus on language and learn it well.  So, I made the hardest decision I have made since coming here and decided to manage the guesthouse myself.   The other three still graciously helped out with the morning rush and a few other side jobs, but this allowed them all to press hard into language learning and setting up their ministries. Within the first few months here it wasn’t uncommon for me to work 10-15 hour days, which quickly grew to 7 days a week.  One of the hardest days was a 24 hour shift at the guesthouse with little to no sleep.  I don’t mention all of this to complain, but to paint a realistic picture for when I say my time in Cambodia so far has been really hard.

Thomas Edison once said “genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration” and, although I don’t know what it’s like to be a genius, I do agree with this sentiment.  I knew I was committed to this mission, but to be honest there were some days where quitting seemed like a really great option.  I was going to need a lot more than just my passions to get me through this season, let alone my entire two-year contract and beyond.  A podcast entitled “How to Get More Grit in Your Life” that I had heard last year from Freakonomics returned to me and I realized that God was using this time to grow in me something greater and that this all had a purpose.  I dug into the Word and found:

• “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
• “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3
• “The way is hard that leads to life.” Matthew 7:14
• “By your endurance you will gain your lives.” Luke 21:19

The struggles in life produce a strong, gritty faith.  I realized the Biblical word for grit is steadfastness, which is something I had been praying for for the past 3 years.  Be careful what you pray for, or at least be ready to accept the answers to your prayers in whatever way they come.  Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 

True Godly grit is able to stand firm and strive hard because it is empowered by God’s grace.  If you’ve seen the Cookie and Radish Experiment, then you know that our human willpower and responsible decision making skills are exhaustible resources.  Sometimes I try hard, really really hard, but eventually I tire out. However, as Christians we have access to an inexhaustible source of hope and strength, named the Holy Spirit. How often do we try to do things on our own, but end up failing?  Luckily my salvation has nothing to do with my works (Ephesians 2:8-9) and, like Horatio G. Spafford once wrote, “When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.” “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Lastly, I think gritty people have hope. They’re optimistic about the future and their ability to improve and affect change.  Seth Barnes Jr. had mentioned the positivity he saw in me through this all (although he never saw me at my lowest points), but I believe this positivity is a symptom of something more.  God is growing in me a deep, Heavenly hope.  Hope that this hard time will end, but moreso hope that this all has a purpose.  Biblical steadfastness, at its core, has a faith that rests on the promises of God and therefore is full of hope.  This is why Paul said, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). 

All in all, I’ve learned a lot in these first few months on the mission field and I am continuing to learn and to grow. God’s molding me into a gritty person with some really gritty faith.  I am beyond grateful (grit-full, haaa) for my God-chosen team that journeys with me here, as well everyone back home that continues to cover me in prayer and love and support me so well.  I really can’t imagine being on the mission field alone, so thank you and “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13) 

Sincerely,

Emily